Skepticism and Belief
by TrustNo1Scully
Summary: Part of my 30 day X-Files short story fanfiction challenge, this is Day 3 upon request. Mulder and Scully are payed a visit by their son William after fifteen years.


Scully awoke to the smell of lavender and a sensation of wetness on her right ear. She opened her eyes and looked up; Mulder was standing above her with a steaming cup of tea in his hand and recently moistened lips. The expression on his face made her quickly question him.

"What's wrong?"

He shook his head, eyes upward as he handed her the cup, he felt her petite fingers brush over his as she took the cup away from him. She took a few tiny sips until he turned from her, answering her in a small and quiet voice.

"There's someone here to see us."

She quickly looked up from the steam of lavender, her face contorted in worry. Who wanted to see _them_? The FBI? Her brother Bill? The aliens they spent years searching for? She carefully got out of bed, setting the mug down on her night table as she put on a purple silk housecoat. Grabbing her cup, she wearily followed Mulder downstairs.

Mulder's back was to her when she came down the stairs, he was just tall enough to obstruct her vision of the front door before them.

"Mulder, who-"

She stopped half sentence as she peered around Mulder's lanky frame.

Those eyes, those blue memorable eyes.

She didn't realize the mug slipping from her hands, shattering into numerous porcelain chips that she unknowingly stepped onto as she ran over to those blue eyes.

Mulder stayed still as he watched Scully embrace the boy, who must have been in his early teens. He watched as her auburn hair fell around his face and covered those eyes. It was the same eyes that he shared with Scully. The same eyes he shared with their son, William.

"William? William, do you – do you know who I am? Do you know who we are? William?"

He waited until Scully moved away, standing at arm's length as she clutched his forearms.

"You're my parents, my real parents."

Mulder closed his eyes as he felt the blood rushing to his head. It had been fifteen years of silent and loud curses to God about the outcome of their son. And here he was fifteen and the spitting image of his mother. Mulder shook his head slightly, correcting himself.

"_No, he has my nose."_

Scully let out a heavy sob, causing her tiny frame to shake as she held tightly onto her son. She could only rationalize this moment as a dream; it was so far from reality to be true.

"What did you come here for William?"

Mulder caught himself asking, he was in the same position and was keeping his eyes closed. He allowed his other senses to fool him, his eyes he kept safe.

"I wanted to meet you Dad…and Mom."

Scully let go of him, her arms swinging by her sides like dead weight. Hearing his voice, seeing him, hearing him, sharing the same air as him…

"William…"

"Mom, I'm not here to stay…"

"Just come into the kitchen alright?"

With heaviness, Scully guided her son into the kitchen where a worn out table stood off to the side. There were only two chairs, it made her heart ache deeper.

Scully barely heard Mulder as he too, came into the kitchen. He stood at guard, his eyes pinpointed anything but William.

"I asked my…'parents' about you. I knew I wasn't theirs. They didn't hide anything from me and they decided it was alright for me to…to meet you."

William exclaimed, he sat straight with his fingers interlaced. He sat how Mulder used to in front of Skinner and at board meetings, in interviews and on the stand in court. He was so much like them.

Scully caught her breath, using the back of her hand to wipe away the endless trails of tears,

"I'm sorry."

William shook his head.

"We…your father and I are sorry William, I…I couldn't. I…William it wasn't safe and the last thing I ever wanted to happen was to lose you. I had almost lost your father and I sure as hell couldn't have bore to lose you too."

Mulder covered his face in his hands.

"Mom-"

"No William! I don't expect you to understand what your father and I went through for eight years and what we went through after that and until now. I don't expect you to understand why and where and for what reason under God's sky as to why we gave…why I gave you up and I…I didn't even wait for…for…for…"

She started to sob.

Loud and deep and heavy.

Mulder could only feel shame and it burned and festered in his gut until William's voice returned.

"I know. I understand."

Scully kept on with her sobbing, it had grown quiet and the air around the three of them held thin. Mulder teetered on the edge of anger and disbelief.

It reminded him too much of all the times he met up with Samantha.

"William, I don't want you to ever believe that your mother and I gave up. Don't ever think that we gave up on each other, our work, and our happiness and never believe that we gave up on you. I…don't know if you knew this but it was hard for your Mom to…she tried and so did I and I wish I spent more time and William…William. You were named after my father and I wish…there are so many times when I had to stop myself from putting the blame on myself about letting you go."

Scully had stopped crying as she looked up at Mulder who was, in fact, staring at William.

"Your mother and I were partners over fifteen years ago. She was assigned to work with me on the X-Files and we worked on the most bizarre cases and never did she run from me. Never did she ask to quit. William, your mother is an amazing woman. To be here, the both of us and…and see you, it's a miracle. You were a miracle too William."

William nodded as he looked down into his lap, his left eyebrow rose in such a fashion that Mulder laughed. He looked so much like Scully, the way his face changed to rationalize – it was her. It was them.

Mulder stood there, an unexplainable smile on his face. Scully had risen from her seat, staring at her baby before her. He was their flesh and blood, their skepticism and belief; he was their one in five billion.

William rose from his seat, walking toward his father. He stood before him, almost as tall and definitely past Scully's height. He reached into his pocket, holding out a clenched fist out towards his father.

"What's this?"

William smiled as he waited for Mulder to extend his hand and open his palm.

William reached out, let his hand hover over Mulder's until he released.

Mulders stood there laughing, watching his son's eyes shine with happiness. Scully had begun to smile too as she saw what William had gave him.

A palm full of sunflower seeds.


End file.
